One of the things Republicans complain about is how ugly Maryland's map this past decade was. And they have a point: it's probably the ugliest map drawn in any state over the last ten years. With that in mind, I drew a relatively clean map of Maryland that creates a safe 7-1 delegation.
I'm sorry that there's only one map for this entire diary, but the picture's so nice it shouldn't matter :)
MD-1 (black): Andy Harris (R) R+14
While SaoMagnifico's "right angle" map is good, this gets the job done and is a great vote sink as well. The weird ugly arm into Anne Arundel County is lost, and in return blood red Northern Baltimore and Harford Counties are added. The best part? Just to screw with him, I took Harris's hometown out of the district. But it's not like he'll be running anywhere else. 83 W 11 B
MD-2 (green): Dutch Ruppersberger (D) D+5.5
It's not pretty, but it's not the MD-2 from the past decade either. I managed to keep probably over 75% of the population of his old district in the new one and managed to keep him above D+5, which is hard on cleaner maps. Loses the ugly arm into central Anne Arundel, gains Parkville which was randomly excised into MD-3 previously, and takes in the heavily Jewish areas of Reistertown and Pikesville. Since the current MD-3 isn't a Jew himself (although his wife is), it shouldn't be as big of a deal as it was for Cardin, a Modern Orthodox Jew (and my distant cousin) who represented this district last redistricting. He also takes in more of Baltimore, mainly in the Northwest. 65 W 25 B
MD-3 (light blue): John Sarbanes (D) D+5.5
The same PVI as Dutch. Sarbanes probably has the most new territory, as he loses the aforementioned areas to Ruppersberger. Because I wanted to keep his home in Towson in the district, this district snakes through Baltimore to that town. I then took in more of Howard County and Rupp's arm into Central Anne Arundel, along with Catonsville from Baltimore County. I'm not sure a Sarbanes primary challenger would have enough of a base for traction here: the Sarbanes name is golden in Baltimore. 64 W 21 B
MD-4 (brown): Donna Edwards (D) D+30
The first of two VRA districts. Rather than give Edwards uber-red Carroll County, I kept her in the Southern half of the state, which is more aesthetically pleasing. I did allow her to eat lots of R+10 or so precincts in Anne Arundel to help out Hoyer. I also gave whiter parts of Pr. George's like Bowie, Greenbelt, and College Park to Edwards, as they look nice here and aren't needed anywhere else. 54 B 25 W 15 H
MD-5 (yellow): Steny Hoyer (D) D+9
Hoyer may well be replaced by a Black representative, but he should still be fine in a primary. He completely pulls out of Northern Prince George's County and loses some of Anne Arundel to Edwards as well. He adds some of the East DC Suburbs from Edwards, however, heavily Black places like Hillcrest Heights, Barnaby Terrace, Waggaman Heights, Paggans Corner, Oaklawn, Phelps Corner, and Glassmanor, as well as some Friendly precincts (no literally, the town is called Friendly). At this point, to keep him safe in a primary, I decided to add redder places in Anne Arundel rather than bluer places in Prince George's. He added Annapolis, Hillsmere Shores, Arnold, Crownsville, Severna Park, and Herald Harbor. Most of these places are red, but there are quite a few White Democrats sprinkled around which will help him in a primary (and maybe moderate Republicans who'd prefer him to a more progressive Black challenger). 56 W 35 B
MD-6 (teal): Open (as Bartlett-R retires) D+5.5
It's time for (likely) a second White progressive from Montgomery County. Bartlett sheds tons of red territory: Frederick, Carroll, and parts of Baltimore and Harford. There's no way he survives. The Democratic base is in places like Germantown, Rockville, Aspen Hill, North Potomac, and Gaithersburg. 63 W 12 B 12 H 11 A
MD-7 (gray): Elijah Cummings D+17
If Cummings complains about a D+17 district, remind him how happy any other Baltimore pol would be with a district that safe and primary his ass. Seriously, he's not vulnerable whatsoever. Cummings basically keeps the same precincts in Baltimore as well as some heavily Black suburbs. Then, instead of taking in blue Howard County, he takes in the redder parts of it along with Randallstown (heavily Black for VRA purposes), Carroll County, and much of Frederick County. 50 B 43 W
MD-8 (slate blue): Chris Van Hollen D+14
Van Hollen takes on lots of new territory but keeps a very safe district. He gets Central Frederick County (including the town of Frederick), takes in swingy eastern Montgomery, and then keeps his base: Potomac, Bethesda, Silver Spring, Wheaton, Glenmont, and Colesville. 58 W 17 B 13 H 10 A
So there you go! And you know what, it doesn't look half bad!
6:59 PM PT: Thanks to a comment, I'll add that Van Hollen might be a better fit for the sixth. He'd get to choose between two districts in any case.